Category Archives: Happening in Akron

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Last Saturday was the 62nd annual Akron Public Schools Science, Math and Technology Expo. Each year this event is held at North High School., and each year Keep Akron Beautiful sends volunteer judges to choose projects and award monetary prizes. The projects the judges focus on are environmental.

Kevin Lockett of Lockett Media, who is a substitute teacher for Akron Public Schools and also a Keep Akron Beautiful Board Member, served as one of the judges. Cindy Pantea, who is a Keep Akron Beautiful staff member, also served as a judge.

The two judges awarded the following presentations:

A “Biodegradable Plastic” presentation was awarded $100 gift card. The project was done by Amora Thomas, who attends East High School. Thomas made plastic out of natural materials and tested the rate of decomposition of each type made. Her instructor is Coach Braho.

An “Airflow Cooling Different Rooms” presentation was awarded a $75 Visa gift card. The project’s owner was John Whorton, a 5th grader! For his project, Whorton made a homemade airflow apparatus to fit in a window and tested for a reduction in room temperature. His STEM instructor is Coach Beebe.

Emily McGuire, a 6th grader, walked away with a $50 gift card for her well-documented “Water Purifier” project, where McGuire used natural materials to clean dirty water. Her STEM instructor is Coach Justiss

A second award of a $50 Visa gift card went to Da’Vonte Whiteside, a student at East High School, for his project, “Solar Cooking.” Whiteside made a solar oven and recorded the solar baking process of cookies. His instructor is Busker-Postlethw.

Science can make nature more beautiful, and on top of that, for young minds, science projects like these exercises critical thinking skills. For both reasons, Keep Akron Beautiful is proud to be a sponsor judge of this event for an environmental category.

You may have been redirected to this updated blog, as of January 31, 2018, if you clicked on the order form from our February 2013 blog. We are sorry, that ol’ blog was written for our friends at the Soil and Water Conservation District, to help spread the word on their 2013 programming.

If you are reading this for the first time and want to learn more or for additional information on other programming for Summit Soil and Water Conservation District, please call the Summit Soil and Water Conservation District directly at 330-929-2871 or visit their About Us page.

It can be hard to keep track of what can be recycled and what can’t. It can be even harder to find a place to take things that are recyclable, but not accepted by your city recycling. Or maybe you live in an apartment complex that doesn’t even have recycle bins.

We know this can be hard, and we don’t always have the time for the extra effort it takes to find out where we can even take recyclables instead of throwing them away to sit in a landfill!

Below is a list of locations to recycle some of those odd things that we can’t put in our city bins. Check the list – you might even find out some things are recyclable and you didn’t even know!

From now until November 10th you can take all paper recycling to one of 30 APS and Akron-Area Private Schools to help them win our annual Recycle-Bowl Contest in correspondence with America Recycles Day on November 15th! See the list of schools and more details here!

Also, did you know that each week on your normal trash and recycling pick up day you are allowed to place large items on the curb next to your bins (like furniture, appliances, and even tires!), and the city will pick them up at no charge? Check here to see what is accepted and how many (8 tires per year are permitted).

Photo via The City of Akron (http://www.akronohio.gov/cms/Public_Works/Trash_Collection/index.html)

Another way of disposing of items that do not fit in your bins is a Special Bulk Volume Pick Up. You must pre-schedule a pickup if you have a large amount of trash (maybe after cleaning out your house or moving out). Each Akron resident is allowed 3 special bulk volume pick ups per year for free! To schedule – call 311 from a landline inside the city, or 330-375-2311 from a cell phone. You can also use the city’s new online platform anytime, anywhere atakronohio.gov/311. Click here for more information.

Photo via The City of Akron (http://www.akronohio.gov/cms/Public_Works/Trash_Collection/index.html)

There also is assistance available for those with medical conditions that prohibit them from being able to take their bins to the curb. More information here.

Thanks to the 2017 Keep America Beautiful/ Lowe’s Community Partners Grant Program, Keep Akron Beautiful (KAB) helped fight illegal dumping through beautification and revitalization of the Elaine Evan’s Memorial Children’s Garden. Formerly known as the Children’s Garden, the site was installed by Let’s Grow Akron (LGA) in 1997 by founder, Elaine Evans with the help of Keep Akron Beautiful who helped eradicate a huge illegal dumpsite, making room for the installation of a man-made stream, a canal boat replica, an arbor and several flowerbeds. Twenty years after its installation, KAB identified a need to return to the site to help address the illegal dumping and drug related issues that affect the surrounding community at Summit Lake.

Unkempt landscaping became overgrown with weeds and poison ivy, untrimmed trees threatened electrical lines, vines took over the arbor, wasps became a persistent problem and the canal boat replica was subject to the elements leaving it with broken wooden boards, peeling paint and exposed nails. In addition to becoming an eyesore, the site is located on an isolated road with no visibility from the surrounding streets, giving those who are trying to illegally dump or do/sell drugs, all the privacy to do so. KAB receives complaints from citizens and reports from the City Information hotline as a site where illegal dumping continues to take place. KAB litter crews frequently remove construction debris, furniture, portable meth labs, whip-its, used needles and discarded animal carcasses.

The 2017 Keep America Beautiful/ Lowe’s Community Partners Grant Program acted as a catalyst and KAB is proud to know they were able to build stronger communities via the revitalization of the Elaine Evan’s Memorial Children’s Garden by helping to beautify public spaces, reduce illegal dumping and strengthen relationships with members of the community.

Work began in August, thanks to the City of Akron who performed maintenance to the road and installed new lighting making the park more accessible and safe for pedestrians and cyclists. Advanced Arboriculture, spent multiple days at the site to trim and remove dead trees, clearing overgrown brush, vines and poison ivy and remove a section of a mature willow tree. This helped increase the visibility of the park to the surrounding neighborhood while removing safety hazards, which was crucial for the volunteer groups that followed. Next, KGK Gardening and Design donated a crew and equipment to excavate the man-made stream. By removing boulders, dirt, weeds and the plastic lining beneath it, KGK created a space that would be easy to maintain. On September 10, KAB welcomed volunteers during First Congregational Church of Hudson’s First Serve event. A group of Hudson high school students stained the arbor and continued clearing brush. The First Serve volunteers also donated a dumpster for debris disposal and over 300 daffodil bulbs.

On September 14, KAB welcomed OEC volunteers as part of their Community Connections Day, a collaboration made possible by the BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence. Volunteers worked with KAB and LGA to remove fencing, stones from old flowerbeds, and sod from a new flowerbed. Volunteers from Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, under the leadership of KAB Board Member, Chastity Duskey, continued the work on new bed installation, removing more sod, tilling in compost and edging the beds with rocks repurposed from the man-made stream. Goodyear volunteers stained four picnic tables donated by Lowe’s. Crew members from Advanced Arboriculture returned to the site to install new fencing.

On October 3, TheLowe’s Heroes team from the Fairlawn Store, under the leadership of Store Manager, Gary Sutor, began to renovate the canal boat replica, removing the flooring, benches and other places where the wood had deteriorated, installing new flooring and benching in its place. Lowe’s installed pollinator gardens under the supervision of KAB Flowerscape Director, Leah Hesier.

From the beginning, KAB worked closely with LGA Executive Director, Lisa Nunn, to ensure the plant selection and changes to the park stay true to both Elaine Evans vision of the Children’s Garden and with the current goals of LGA. Staff and volunteers from LGA worked side by side volunteers and KAB staff throughout the projects entirety.

This project has helped to change the negative stigma which has long plagued the Summit Lake neighborhood and restored pride among existing neighbors, inviting newcomers for a fresh perspective on the Lake.